🌱 Everybody Hates Portland + Homeless Sweeps Accelerate

It's Saturday, my friends! The actual weekend is here and we should all conduct ourselves accordingly. Translation: Let's all have some fun. Here's what's happening today.

First, today's weather:

Some rain early, then tapering off with a high of 65.

Here are the top five stories today in Portland:

1. Polling from DHM Research shows that voters are far less happy with the city’s trajectory today than at any time in the last 30 years, when the firm began asking. A rock-bottom 8% of voters say Portland is headed in the right direction, down from 38% before the pandemic, and percentages that routinely hit the high 50s and mid 60s earlier this century. Separate research by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center has also turned up deep pessimism: 82% of Multnomah County residents surveyed in April reported being either somewhat or very worried about the future of their part of the state. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
2. On Monday, staff members at Mother + Child Education Center in Northeast Portland had a full day of ahead of them. There were classes to teach new parents. There were free baby supplies, clothing and food to share with clients. But those plans quickly changed when they got to the office. “When we came into work on Monday, literally somebody had decided to go to the bathroom all over everything,” said Mother + Child executive director Maura White. “I just wanted to cry.” White found human feces smeared all over a mural outside the nonprofit at 1515 NE 41st Avenue. Piles of waste dotted the yard and filled buckets — it was even smeared into a padlock on their fence door. (KGW.com)
3. Portland General Electric is giving lower income customers up to 25 percent off their energy bill. It’s a first of its kind program in Oregon, and it comes at a time when a lot of people could really use it. Thanks to legislation that passed last year, investor-owned utilities in Oregon can now offer income-based energy bill discounts to customers. PGE is offering a 15, 20 or 25 percent discount each month for two years to customers making 60 percent or less of the state median income. (KPTV)
4. Portland’s water engineers have completed a treatment facility they hope will take care of the city’s lead problem once and for all. The drinking water from the Bull Run Watershed, a protected area near Mount Hood where Portland gets its water supply, is naturally corrosive. That’s long been a problem for Portlanders with lead in their household plumbing, who are at risk of having the toxic metal leach from the pipes into their tap water. The Portland Water Bureau built the Improved Corrosion Control Treatment facility to make the water supply less corrosive and protect these Portlanders from exposure to the lead in their pipes. The most at-risk homes are those built or plumbed between 1970 and 1985, an era when copper pipes with lead solder were common. The water bureau estimates there are roughly 15,000 homes from this era. The facility officially went online April 21. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
5. A rainy walk in Portland’s Old Town on Thursday morning gave the impression that the humanitarian crisis that once existed – just a few days ago even – was no more. Make-shift homes had disappeared, sidewalks were bare and the few remaining tents still standing were neatly tucked into themselves, leaving generous room on sidewalks for passersby. Under an order by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, at least 21 homeless encampments in Old Town, ranging in size from one to four city blocks, were posted for removal in the past week and subsequently cleared, said Cody Bowman, a spokesman in Wheeler’s office. An estimated 165 tents or structures were removed, according to the city office that cleans and removes camps. Typically one to three people live in each temporary home. (OregonLive)

Today in Portland:

• Broadway Books is celebrating its 30th anniversary and it wants you to help them celebrate. Thanks abound for the solid foundation laid by Roberta Dyer and Gloria Borg Olds in the spring of 1992, and to all of the authors, publishers, landlords, wonderful employees, and—especially—you, dear readers and book buyers, the loyal customers who have helped them to keep the lights on for three decades. There will be a photo booth, cupcakes, contests, a Broadway Books jigsaw puzzle, a special sale and much more! (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
• Oregon Rises Above Hate. Join together to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the AANHPI (Asian, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander) community, its resilience and commit to combat the continued rise anti-Asian hate at the Flanders Festival Street. This is both an in-person and online event. (10 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
• The Waterfront Blues Festival presents a free Community Concert with some of Portland’s favorite soul, funk and blues artists at the Welcome Dome in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Join an awesome afternoon of music with Portland legends the LaRhonda Steele Band with Norman Sylvester, funk-soul stars Outer Orbit with Sarah Clarke and slick strummin’ Tevis Hodge Jr. This all star lineup is part of the Blues Festival’s series of Community Concerts leading up to the festival’s 35th anniversary in downtown Portland’s Waterfront Park, July 1-4. Come dance in the dome and celebrate the blues! (noon to 3 p.m.)
• Pigeon Milk presents: Stalker! Join the 4th Wall for a special evening of psych/sci-fi/horror featuring a live curated soundtrack provided by Portland's Premiere hypnofunk space freakout synth trio Pigeon Milk! Tickets are $5 and available at the door only. (7 - 9 p.m.)
• Sorry Not Sorry at Leikam Brewing is a monthly standup showcase featuring women, LGBTIQIA+ and POC comics. This month’s show is headlined by Noah Watson who was recently named one of Portland’s Funniest Five comedians by the Willamette Week. Also featuring Patti Mansbach, Carlos Kareem Windham, and Andrea Menchaca. It is hosted by Eliza Butler, Julia Corral, Marietje Hauprich. The laughs start at 8 p.m.

From my notebook:

• Portland Fire & Rescue introduced the newest member of its team Thursday. Kiki the yellow Labrador retriever is trained as an arson dog through a State Farm-funded program. She spent four weeks training with Portland Fire Lt. Jason Andersen back in Maine. He says there are two things that make dogs like her special. (KATU)
• If watching the skies for remarkable events is important to you, the skies will not disappoint this weekend as the first of two total lunar eclipses will captivate much of the United States. Beginning Sunday night into Monday morning, May's full flower moon is expected to turn blood red. Some also refer to t0 as a super moon and it should be a super sight. (Portland Patch)
• Chris Marchini posted his first quilting video in March and within a month he had more than 14,000 followers of his videos on the quilting process sometimes raking in hundreds of thousands of views. (Portland Monthly)
• Last summer, a deadly wave of heat struck the Pacific Northwest, causing temperatures to soar more than 30 degrees above normal and killing more than a thousand people. A new study has uncovered the sequence of events that precipitated the disaster, providing information that could further our understanding of heat formation on the North American continent. By reviewing large-scale weather conditions and formations before the heat wave, University of Chicago scientists discovered that a cyclone spawned an "anticyclone," which combined to produce and then trap heat near the surface of the region. (Phys.Org)
• In January, a ruffed grouse made a crash landing outside of Canyon Creek Middle School in Washougal, Washington. A large raptor was seen flying away after the bird was downed, so we believe it may have just escaped becoming a meal! Predation is an inherent risk of living in the wild, and we would never recommend interrupting natural processes, but when an animal is left hurt and the predator is gone, we are glad to lend a helping hand. The grouse was quickly brought to the Wildlife Care Center by a teacher at the school who made the long drive after work—we are always so appreciative of everyone who takes the time out of their day to help a wild animal. (Instagram)
• Imagine a great playlist, but with Japanese food instead of music. The mix includes cult snacks, instant wonder foods, and secret ingredients favored by chefs. That’s the A-side, the fun side of eating, what we live for. The B-side is basically everything you need to capture the essence of Japanese home cooking, plus a collection of artisanal sakes to go with it. And that, in a bag of fried ramen chips, is Fulamingo — a DIY Japanese market from industry vets Erik Hanson and Kana Hinohara Hanson. (Portland Monthly)

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That's your Saturday, peoples. Have fun with it and meet me back next week so I can talk more about Portland.

— Dominic Anaya

About me: Doctor, educator and now a writer/artist, I'm just chillin' in Portland, OR with my wife, our ferrets, our chickens and our goats.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Portland Daily? Contact me at portland@patch.com